Monthly House Price Index statistics for May 2017 published

Published: 17 July 2017

Latest monthly HPI shows that the average price of a property in Scotland in May 2017 was £143,106.

The latest publication of the monthly UK House Price Index (UK HPI) shows that the average price of a property in Scotland in May 2017 was £143,106 – an increase of 3.5 per cent on may in the previous year and an increase of 0.7 per cent when compared to the previous month. This compares to a UK average of £220,713, which was an increase of 4.7 per cent compared to May in the previous year and an increase of 0.5 per cent when compared to the previous month.

The volume of residential sales in Scotland in March 2017 was 9,144 – a decrease of 17.0 per cent on March 2016 but an increase of 60.4 per cent on the previous month. This compares with annual decreases in sales volumes of 44.3 per cent in England, 35.5 per cent in Wales and 28.5 per cent in Northern Ireland. Volumes in March 2016 were likely to have been affected by the introduction on 1 April 2016 of the higher rates for additional dwellings under Land and Buildings Transaction Tax in Scotland and Stamp Duty Land Tax in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Registers of Scotland business development and information director Kenny Crawford said: “Average prices in May continued their upward trend when compared with May 2016. There have been increases in every month since March 2016 when compared with the same month of the previous year.”

“Sales volumes figures for March 2017 showed a decrease in Scotland of 17.0% when compared with March 2016, however volumes in March 2016 were higher than usual due to changes in Land and Buildings Transaction Tax that came into effect on 1 April 2016. When compared with previous years, sales volumes figures for March 2017 are up by 20.7 per cent when compared with March 2015, up by 31.8 per cent when compared with March 2014, and up by 44.0 per cent when compared with March 2013.”

The top five local authorities in terms of sales volumes were Glasgow City (1,189 sales), the City of Edinburgh (1,009 sales), Fife (633 sales), South Lanarkshire (595 sales) and North Lanarkshire (481 sales).

Price increases were recorded in 27 out of 32 local authorities in May 2017 compared to the previous year. The biggest price increase was in Perth and Kinross where the average price increased by 7.6 per cent to £182,254. The biggest decrease was again in the City of Aberdeen, where prices fell by 7.8 per cent to £164,277.

Across Scotland, all property types showed an increase in average price in May 2017 when compared with the same month in the previous year. Detached properties showed the biggest increase, rising by 6.0 per cent to £245,888.

The average price in May 2017 for property purchased by a first time buyer was £115,571 – an increase of 2.0 per cent compared to the same month in the previous year. The average price for a property purchased by a former owner occupier was £171,579 – an increase of 4.7 per cent on the previous year.

The average price for a cash sale was £134,011 – an increase of 5.2 per cent on the previous year – while the average price for property purchased with a mortgage was £148,034 – an increase of 3.3 per cent on the previous year.

ENDS

Notes to editors

For the full picture and detail access the UK HPI and the HPI Scotland. As with other indicators in the Housing Market, which typically fluctuate from month to month, it is important not to put too much weight on one month’s set of house price data.

In addition to the enhancements to the HPI that were summarised in the anniversary news release published on behalf of the HPI working group by our partner HM Land Registry in June, a blog has been published which provides additional information about the HPI anniversary and enhancements.

Registers of Scotland has also recently published our 10-year property market report, detailing trends in the land and property market over the last ten years.

The statistics have been produced in accordance with the Code of Practice for official statistics. The UK House Price Index is calculated by the Office for National Statistics and Land & Property Services Northern Ireland. Find out about the methodology used.

Separate HPI releases are also published by HM Land Registry and Land & Property Services Northern Ireland, which focus on the figures for England and Wales and for Northern Ireland. The Office for National Statistics also publishes a monthly HPI statistical bulletin with commentary on the whole of the UK.

The new UK HPI was launched in June 2016 initially as an experimental official statistic to allow for users to acclimatise to the format of the new HPI, to evaluate user reaction to the new data, evolve the publication of data further to meet user requirements and to further develop the data sources used in the production. Further information about this experimental status and the improvements introduced to the UK HPI since its launch can be found in section 1.1 of About the UK House Price Index .

Following the introduction of further improvements, scheduled to be implemented in summer 2017, the HPI working group will look to remove the experimental status and progress with the assessment of the UK House Price Index as a National Statistic.

Please note that the Northern Ireland Residential Property Price Index, used as a component source in the production of the new UK HPI remains an official statistic (i.e. this is not classified as experimental).

Registers of Scotland (RoS) is the government department responsible for compiling and maintaining registers relating to property and other legal documents in Scotland. RoS records and safeguards the rights of the individual while providing open access to information on the registers.

Note that all average prices reported from the UK HPI are geometric means, which will typically be closer to the median than the arithmetic mean. Also note that average price estimates for the most recent months are provisional figures and are likely to change when more recent data is incorporated into the index. Revision policies can be accessed here.↵

Due to a period of 2 to 8 weeks between completion and registration of sales, volume figures based on the month of date of entry are presented up to March because April and May figures may change when more recent sales applications data is received.↵

The volume of sales in February 2017 was 5,702 (revised figure), and in March 2016 was 11,017.↵

Orkney Islands showed an increase of 25.2% and Clackmannanshire showed an increase of 8.4%. Local authority areas where sales volumes within the year to March 2017 represent less than 1 per cent of the all Scotland sales volume are excluded from the figures used for highlighting purposes due to the volatility of the market in these areas.↵

Na h-Eileanan Siar showed a decrease of 18.0% and Shetland showed a decrease of 14,7%. This has not been highlighted for the reason shown in footnote 5 above.↵